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Voltron Movie Might Still Come Together

We've heard that a Voltron movie was coming, and of course, it definitely made sense after the spectacular success of Transformers last summer. Why no Gobots movie yet? It might have to do with Hasbro, which owns Transformers, buyinh out the rights to Gobots years ago and in 2002 a toy series called Transformers: Gobots was released. So, they've been assimilated into that product line, I guess. That's what my research tells me at any rate.

As for Voltron, the plans to make it into a film have apparently been on the table since well before Transformers was announced. But now the film has been put into turnaround by a Fox subsidiary, according to Variety. Usually, that's a bad thing. However, Relativity Media may save the project, although on a smaller budget, "utilizing the type of cost-effective technology employed in films including 300."

Producers Mark Gordon and Jordan Wynn are searching for a director, and Variety indicates that shouldn't take long. The script - or a script for Voltron: Defender of the Universe - is already in place thanks to Justin Marks, who also cranked out the new He-Man movie and the upcoming superhero flick, Green Arrow.

It's intriguing to hear the comparison to 300 for Voltron. Because the script centers on five human survivors of an apocalypse who maneuver the lion-shaped robots that form Voltron, perhaps that cool green screen technology can work to create an effective apocalyptic landscape, offering a new look for Voltron, as well as being something completely different from Michael Bay's sun-kissed Transformers.

Because the producers want to move quickly, we'll keep you posted if we hear about a director falling into place.

Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 at 01:32AM by

Colin Boyd in TV Adaptations, Voltron |

4 Comments

Four New 'Star Trek' Character Posters

io9 has given the world four new character posters for next year's Star Trek. I can't say I feel great about every single cast member, although I love the prequel concept, definitely think the right guy is taking over the franchise at this point (J.J. Abrams), and think it's absolutely the best way to spark new interest in a set of 40-year-old characters.

The first character posters, released just before Comic Con, featured Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), the evil Nero (Eric Bana), and Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Now we fill out the roster a little bit with, moving clockwise from top left, Scotty (Simon Pegg), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Bones (Karl Urban), and Sulu (John Cho). Here's how the pieces fit together:

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Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 01:24PM by

Colin Boyd in TV Adaptations, Posters, J.J. Abrams, Star Trek, Sci-Fi, Prequels |

2 Comments

De Niro "ThisClose" To Joining Mel Gibson in 'Edge of Darkness'

This would have been huge casting news in the mid-1990s, but now that their careers have cooled, there's not as much sizzle when you read that Robert De Niro and Mel Gibson will star opposite another in a cop movie.

However, this isn't just some cop movie - which is the kind of aroma given off by De Niro's upcoming duet with Al Pacino in Righteous Kill - this is Martin Campbell's remake of the 1985 BBC miniseries Edge of Darkness.

OK...granted, that might have zero relevance to you. But know this: Campbell (Casino Royale) also directed the original series and the new film version sports a screenplay by William Monahan (The Departed). That ought to raise your eyebrows a little.

The Boston Herald says that while De Niro's casting is not confirmed, he's "thisclose to signing on." Monahan knows Boston cops, or at least his Departed script sure felt like he did, and Gibson will play one in the film. He's investigating the murder of his daughter (Bojana Novakovic), and should he ink a deal to co-star, De Niro may play a CIA agent.

What the hell does a CIA agent have to do with a cop trying to uncover the truth about his dead daughter? Well, I don't know how much of this the new film will delve into because the Cold War is over, but in the original, the cop found a bunch of government cover-ups (or is it covers-up?), and even stumbled on to some nuclear espionage. Again, the political climate has changed over 20 years, so they may reposition what's being covered up, but the nuts and bolts of it will still probably be similar.

Then again, having the cop find out his daughter's body was radioactive and trying to figure out why is a great plot device. I'd hate to throw that one out if I'm William Monahan.

So let's take inventory: One of the BBC's best original dramas using the same director, an Oscar-winning writer, and two stalwart actors that ought to be determined to give their best. Suddenly, this one just moved up a few rungs for me.

Posted on Friday, August 1, 2008 at 09:46PM by

Colin Boyd in Casting Couch, TV Adaptations, Robert De Niro, Mel Gibson, William Monahan, Edge of Darkness |

2 Comments

Chris Carter Still Wants to Believe in More 'X-Files' Movies

Though he may have trouble getting the money to make it after the lackluster production of The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Chris Carter, the creator of the series and the director of the new film, tells IGN he's already putting together ideas for a third movie.

"We had really good fun doing this movie -- we have high hopes for it and we just want people to like it," says Carter. If people do want to come and see it we'll certainly be talking about another movie."

So far, of course, people haven't come to see it; the movie made a paltry $10 million in its debut last weekend. But supposing it finds an audience overseas or on home video, Carter is open to the idea of resurrecting the alien stories that marked the show's successful run on Fox.

"We love the alien storyline too, but we felt coming back this time -- when a story like this was not only true to the series but allows us to focus on Mulder and Scully more, you don't have to deal with all the complications in the alien storyline. But if there were to be more films -- and we're not at all taking it for granted that there will be -- but if there were that's something we would definitely want to get back too...There's a date in the X-Files mythology -- 2012 -- that is very important. We'd certainly love to do something with that!"

The reference to 2012 has specific meaning to fans of the show; 12.12.12 is when the alien invasion is supposed to happen in Mulder and Scully's world. And yes, that would probably bring out more casual viewers of the show than this current standalone project has.

I wouldn't get my hopes up for a third film if I were, and if your hopes were already up, I'd do something to bring them back down. Isn't thinking about about baseball and nuns supposed to do that? Wait...that's for something else.

Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 11:54PM by

Colin Boyd in TV Adaptations, X-Files, David Duchovny |

3 Comments

Duchovny, Anderson Up for More 'X-Files'

Over 200 episodes, fans grew to know a lot about Fox Mulder and Dana Scully on The X-Files. Since the show's left the air, however, six years have passed, and many feel that the series ultimately became too heavy for its own good. There's probably some truth in that; it was certainly not an easy series to wrap up, like Sam Malone turning to a patron and saying, "We're closed." Loose ends took a while to braid together.

But after a period of decompression, The X-Files: I Want to Believe is in theaters today. I was skeptical when I learned there would be a second film, in part because I'm a skeptic, but also in part because I didn't know what was left for Mulder and Scully, and for that matter, for David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Neither star was jumping up for joy over the last couple seasons of the series. Duchovny wanted to shoot in Los Angeles rather than in Vancouver, Anderson made plenty of noise about wanting out, and it's hard to pretend that it didn't influence the show to some degree.

But my initial skepticism was assuaged when I learned that series creator Chris Carter planned to do something completely different in the new film. We're not here to spoil your fun if you haven't seen the film, but it's not your typical X-Files case, which is to say, it's closer to a police procedural than an episode of Ghost Hunters. It's an episode based on nothing we've seen in the X-Files universe before, a two-hour story with a beginning, middle, and end. I liked a good deal of it, though the subplots - a necessary device in a story as grim as this one - were only so-so.

In a USA Today article published this week, it's reported that Carter "has expressed interest in future X-Files films that revisit the old mythology." That's a good thing. Because The X-Files, despite its TV roots, would work much better at this point as a film franchise, a series of unconnected cases about the unexplained. Carter's a terrific writer and a solid director, and Duchovny and Anderson are at their best squaring off for and against each other. More movies would be a good thing.

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Posted on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 03:28PM by

Colin Boyd in TV Adaptations, Sequels, Sci-Fi, X-Files, David Duchovny |